WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BIG AREAS STILL LACK 3G, SAYS OFCOM Nearly 90 per cent of the UK’s land mass and a quarter of buildings are unable to receive all five 3G phone networks a decade after the introduction of the mobile licences, according to the telecoms regulator. In its first report on the UK’s communications infrastructure, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 24, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES ABN AMRO SEEKS NEW LIFE AS GLOBAL FORCE ABN Amro, the Dutch bank that has seen two of its three post-crisis owners collapse, is on a mission to re-emerge as a force in the sector and has promised to be a buyer of Eurozone financial assets that capital-stretched banks are preparing to sell. [...]
Lending to businesses is still subdued, says Bank October 20, 2011 LENDING to businesses fell again in the three months to August, Bank of England figures showed yesterday. On an annualised basis, the stock of lending from financial institutions fell by 2.1 per cent, or £2.5bn. The decline represents a slowing rate – lending was down 5.8 per cent in the three months to July and [...]
Reforms set to cut back chaotic audit regulator October 17, 2011 INCOHERENT growth of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has created an inefficient shambles, its chief executive told City A.M. yesterday. “Following scandals like Enron and Equitable Life, the FRC’s responsibilities grew from accounting standards originally to cover areas like corporate governance, professional oversight, and actuarial work,” Stephen Heddrill told City A.M. “However, the whole body [...]
Crunch time as firms seek women directors October 11, 2011 FORTY-FOUR per cent of the UK’s top 350 companies still have no women representatives on their boards, despite a recent push to improve boardroom diversity and encourage the appointment of female executives. Over the past decade, the proportion of women on the boards of the UK’s biggest 350 public companies has increased from five to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES WATCHDOG HITS FRENCH AUDITORS French auditors have been lambasted by the UK’s leading accountancy regulator for their performance during the Greek debt crisis. Stephen Haddrill, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, criticised the way French banks and insurers had been allowed by their auditors to post smaller losses on Greek government bonds [...]
EC proposals to reform the audit market are seriously flawed, says PWC chairman September 27, 2011 LEAKED European Commission proposals for regulatory changes to the audit market hit the front page yesterday. They represent a significant market intervention and while they have not changed substantially from a Green Paper published last year, if implemented they would risk undermining quality and confidence in the audit market. Of course, this is an important [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 22, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO SPEED RECAPITALISATION OF 16 BANKS European officials look set to speed up plans to recapitalise the 16 banks that came close to failing last summer’s pan-EU stress tests as part of a co-ordinated effort to reassure the markets about the strength of the 27-nation bloc’s banking sector. A senior French official [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 19, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SIEMENS SHELTERS CASH AT ECB Siemens withdrew more than half a billion euros in cash deposits from a large French bank two weeks ago and transferred it to the ECB, in a sign of how companies are seeking havens amid Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. The German industrial group withdrew the money partly because [...]
FRC changes audit rules September 1, 2011 COMPANIES will have to put their contract for a new auditor out to tender once every decade or explain why they have not, under new proposed corporate reporting rules published yesterday. But the Financial Reporting Council scrapped plans to stop companies printing hard copies of annual reports as part of the overhaul, after opposition from [...]